


haciéndome creer que me esperaran

by virgo (gradually)



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Chronic Pain, Found Family, Gen, ITS BACKGROUND HOPESCOTT, One-Sided Relationship, also background davekurt, clowning on hank pym as it should be, i just wanted to tag it so that anyone reading this knows whats up, takes place post amatw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 23:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18726784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gradually/pseuds/virgo
Summary: alt title: bro… we are friends bro… you can clown me for liking white menluis and ava are unlikely friends.





	haciéndome creer que me esperaran

**Author's Note:**

> hi gamers!!! 
> 
> this has been in my drafts for MONTHS and its not my best work, but i did want to get it out there : ) i hope you enjoy being as sad ! : ) 
> 
> (note: luis is a nonbinary dude and uses he/him and ava is ??? (dont really have time for gender when you're phasin thru dimensions!) and uses she/they) 
> 
> shoutout to my pal who brought up avocados way back when i wrote that thorbruce fic for the alt title ilu

Luis and Ava are unlikely friends. Mainly for the reason that one of them tried to kill Scott, whereas one tried to kill the other. But here they were, elbow-to-elbow at the mishmash of outdoor tables at Luis’ brother’s barbeque. Luis knew that Ava was hungry and almost completely alone, and Luis knew what that felt like, so it was second nature for him to invite the other. Ava had cleaned up for the occasion - their face was free of dirt and the scars they still carried were expertly concealed. They bit into a piece of grilled nopal with joy, tearing a chunk off with their teeth. 

“So Ava,” Luis’ sister asked from across the table, “what is your job?”

“Um, just a student right now,” they mumbled, before taking another bite in an effort to not respond to any questions. 

“Ohh, that’s nice! College is very important, I’m glad you’re able to do all that.”

Luis interjects before Ava feels obliged to reply. “Yeah, Ava is like, a super genius - they know a bunch of math, and I mean a _bunch,_ like chalkboards full of just numbers and squiggles ‘n stuff. Isn’t that right?”

Ava nods politely and thanks every star ready to peek out of the sky that Kurt distracts Luis’ sister with questions about her new manicure. Luis had been able to figure out where his sister went to get her nails done and Kurt was allowed to tag along once, and he was now sporting bioluminescent nail polish himself. Dave sat left of Kurt, very slowly taking bits of food off his plate while Kurt wasn’t looking for the hell of it. Ava caught Dave’s eye and smiled. Everything was loud and warm and Ava felt very small and very intertwined with the fabric of the universe, instead of barely floating and phasing through it. 

It was probably one part Janet van Dyne helping Ava become grounded in one dimension, but Ava didn’t want to give her too much credit, and chalked it up to having a family again. Not that the Dr. Foster wasn’t her family, but this -- the children running everywhere, people gathered around standing and gossiping and catching up -- this chaos was what felt the most stable. Ava was happy to let the ebb and flow of conversation float around them as the sun set and the large garage lights were flipped on. 

The cicadas started to buzz overwhelmingly loudly at one point, and folks had made their way inside. That was how Ava was kicking Luis’ ass in dominoes as he nursed his third beer. Dave and Kurt had left earlier, opting to get a ride home from one of Luis’ friends going in the same direction. No one raised their brows at their domesticity and something about that made Ava’s heart warm. One day she could have that and the family she built for herself would accept and celebrate it.

A muscle spasm went from her cheek to her jaw down her neck and she had to breathe, slow and deep, to keep from yelling.

What Ava never told anyone is it still hurt. It still hurt and she was resigned to the fact it would always hurt -- if not physically, then emotionally. She knew that at the end of the night, after she drove herself and Luis home, she would shut the door and fall to the ground and cry until she was exhausted like she always did. Even though she was grounded in one dimension, the pain they hard learned to associate with dimensional phasing was still there. Only this time, there was nothing they could do about it, no magic white woman to cure her wounds like they had all tried to do when they ripped her body into tiny little shreds after realizing she was an unstable, unusable weapon. 

But this time Luis noticed that it hurt and set a hand on her shoulder tentatively, ignoring the fact that he was showing her his hand in dominoes. Showing weakness and tenderness and an ability for Ava to rip that straight out of his fucking hands. He doesn’t care, and Ava can't tell what he’s saying because _someone is touching her_ and everything is too small and too big at once as she tries to shimmy her shoulders way from his touch, the unfamiliarity of it like daggers on her skin. Luis puts his hand back, eyes wide with worry, and Ava feels like she’s phasing again, here and not, completely fine one second and inconsolable unstable the next.

Ava stands, mumbling something about going to the restroom, before darting up and running to said restroom to splash water on her face. What was she thinking, freaking out in front of Luis like that? She had barely gained his trust and she almost threw him over the fucking table just for touching her. _Stupid, stupid stupid,_ she repeated, splashing water on her face, before realizing it was ruining the makeup she had attempted to apply and just standing there, staring at the ways that water pooled in spots where the waterproof setting spray hadn’t been sweat off from the summer heat. When she emerged from the restroom, Luis was there, holding her bag. Technically it was a fanny pack, but Ava hated the name and loved the utility of it. She had even put some pins on it that she got at an art crawl she went to with a classmate.

“I told everyone you were just feeling a little sick. Wanna head home?”

Ava nodded curtly, before shaking everyone’s hand and saying goodbye, following behind Luis. He was all hugs and kisses and long goodbyes, and Ava just hoped that the tension she was holding wouldn’t spill over into sadness when Luis’ sister offered her leftovers after seeing how much she liked nopales. 

The humid summer air hit her as soon as they walked out, making it feel like even the hair on her skin was wet. 

“I’m sorry,” she croaked, climbing into the driver’s seat. “I ruined the party.”

“Ava, you don’t have anything to be sorry about. I should know better than to grab a former SHIELD operative by the shoulder when they’re, they’re concentratin’ on a heated game of dominoes.” 

Ava silently thanks Luis for the omission. 

“What if I told you I wanted ice cream anyway?”

Luis smiles at that, and talks her ear off about a brand new ice cream place he tried with Dave last week that chops up the cookies into your ice cream and then rolls up the ice cream, but then he delves into the fact that it’s a perfectly normal popular form of street food in other countries, and Ava finds herself chiming in when Luis brings up the commodification of street foods in ‘exotic’ places for their aesthetics. Regardless, they decide to check the ice cream place out, seeing as its nearing eleven and nowhere else will be open besides soft-serve, which Ava abhors. Luis calls her posh for that and she laughs, a real laugh from her stomach that leaves her with a tear in her right eye.

There’s a rare moment of silence before Luis talks again, this time slowly, as if he’s trying to disentangle his emotion from his words, a nearly impossible feat for him.

“Yeah, I wanted to take Scotty but uh - I guess I never got the memo.”

Ava’s face falls at that, and she glances over to see Luis dejectedly scrolling through his phone. Scott and Hope had been dancing around each other for months now, ever since Janet had helped heal her, and usually it was Hope who delivered more quantum energy to keep up the fact that she was finally a solid human being that didn’t phase through space and time about every thirty seconds. She was surprised to hear that they had ended up going out, but it made sense, for better or for worse.

“I think… I think he’s missing out on perfectly good ice cream then. And a perfectly good opportunity.” 

Luis laughs, empty. 

“Nah man, Hope is crazy stupi-- I mean, she’s real fine. You know. Tryna work on my vocabulary and all that. Thanks for the book you lent me by the way.” 

“First of all, you’re welcome. Second of all,” Ava says as she leans back to look behind her as she parks, “just because Hope is pretty doesn’t mean you aren’t.”

Luis mulls it over, but Ava knows him well enough to know that it’ll take much longer than just this one cup of ice cream for him to accept that. He’s silent until they make it inside to order, only one employee working the register as another one preoccupies themselves with the dishes. They look like high schoolers, and the soft chirp of Top 40 music speakers is pleasant to Ava, although she knows her and Luis would probably tear the song apart back in the car. 

“Anyway, I wanna get the ice cream with the oreos in it, but I wonder if they have the mega stuff Oreos, ‘cause I feel like the cookie is still too hard in the ice cream, that’s why store-bought Oreo ice cream is so good, cause the cookie is as soft as the ice cream. What do you want?” 

After mulling over the menu, Ava decided on a green tea ice cream with no toppings. Luis said that defeated the purpose, but she quickly reminded him who was paying and he conceded, smiling. 

They ate on one of the picnic tables outside, Luis turning his phone’s flashlight on so they could actually see something. It was quiet save for the harsh trill of the night-time bug orchestra, which they were both pretty good at tuning out by now. 

She almost musters up the courage to say, _so, Scott_ , but leaves it as only a thought, enjoying the pleasant conversation they’re having over classes. They had both enrolled at the same community college in vastly different programs, but fate and the education system put them in the same writing class. One of Ava’s classmates enjoyed talking loudly about their interpersonal drama where Luis is sure that one of his lab partners is growing something in the supply closet. Poor kid is probably inspired by some hapless fucker like Pym. Luis laughed at that, and the conversation turned to the doctor and his garish taste in decor. 

Ava looked away when Luis’ eyes lit up and he talked about how Scott had some kind of cool butt-kicking Avenging mission next week, and how little yet how much he knew about it, from his cousin’s softball teammate’s sister, who happened to be married to a lady who did grounds work near the Avengers compound. Luis could only hope the poor gal got paid well, given how fucking loaded the Avengers were. Complex emotions were not Ava’s strong suit, and she could see them all in Luis’ eyes when he talked about Scott.

.

Ava didn’t cry as hard that night. She was able to pick herself up after a couple of minutes and wash her face before collapsing from physical exertion. Before falling asleep she texted Luis a smiley face and set an alarm, hoping to pick them up coffee before class. 

**Author's Note:**

> Blease leave me comments and appreciate the rest of the amatw cast also stan loona


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